Rampant in the Sands
by EagleDaydream
Summary: New! Chapter 4 up! Post-FFX-2 fic. The Al Bhed have decided to rebuild Home, and many of the Al Bhed are delighted- especially Rikku. But perhaps the reconstruction of Home isn't the only thing that's making Rikku giddy. (Baralai x Rikku)
1. Chapter 1 : Visitor

Rampant in the Sands  
  
Disclaimer: I own no characters of Final Fantasy X or X-2, no matter how much I wish I did. XD So, yeah, their rights belong to Square Enix, obviously.  
  
The only warnings at the moment are spoilers. This takes place after the ending of FFX-2, so obviously, you're going to have both FFX-2 and FFX spoilers in here. Pairing is Baralai/Rikku, don't be deceived by this chapter and get angry with me in later chapters. XD  
  
So, now, enjoy! ^-^  
  
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"Come on, it can go a little higher," a cheery voice shouted from above.  
  
Gippal peered up to the top of the machina he was operating, shading his eyes from the bright sun rays that shone down upon the work in progress- - Home.  
  
"What are you waiting for?" Rikku's voice called again.  
  
A smirk formed across Gippal's face as he watched the girl impatiently pace back and forth atop the small platform on the end of the machina, occasionally sending down an annoyed look toward him. But Gippal knew it was all in fun-- she'd made it painfully obvious that she was delighted in almost every aspect of her life again, now that Home was being rebuilt.  
  
"Mevd ed rekran pavuna E lusa tufh drana!"  
  
Gippal let out a chuckle at the girl's antics, shaking his head and leaning over the machina's control panel. He pushed a small switch up, and the machina extended itself higher. Rikku clapped her hands together proudly as it took her over one of the broad walls that was still being built. In her hands, she held small devices that would password protect Home, or as Rikku referred to it, keep all the scum out of Home.  
  
She had forgiven the Guado by now, of course, now that Seymour was gone and the Guado had a new leader. She was fine with trusting the Guado to Tromell-- he never seemed to be a violent man. Still, Rikku never let it rest that Home had to be protected this time. Rikku-- no, everyone never wanted another Al Bhed massacre like last time.  
  
Gippal closely peered at Rikku as she maneuvered herself onto the top of the rather thin wall. She planted her feet carefully along the top and swayed to the side for a moment, flailing her arms desperately to regain her balance. Gippal gasped and rushed past the machina and toward the wall, hoping to reach it in time before she hit the ground.  
  
Luckly, Rikku caught herself, leaning down and gripping the edge of the wall tightly. She stood up once again and gazed around her for a second. Gippal continued staring up at her-- just in case. But the broad smile that crossed her face reassured him. She pumped a fist into the air happily, continuing to grin down at Gippal.  
  
"Be careful up there," Gippal called to her, a trace of laughter in his voice.  
  
Rikku nodded, and headed off along the edge of the wall, planting the small devices into the crevices made in the walls.  
  
Gippal stepped away from the wall and took to exploring around a bit more. He peered over toward other sections of the Home-in-progress, where many people were helping to construct the new foundations of Home. Al Bhed were rampant among the sands, as usual, but there were other faces among the crowd. Many Spirans were taking their part in rebuilding Home-- not just the Al Bhed.  
  
The idea came from Nhadala to start hiring Spirans to work on rebuilding Home alongside the Al Bhed to get it done twice as fast, and Cid was quick to approve it. He had seen first hand the workings of a business-- when he made Zanarkand into a tourist attraction. Even though business there flopped, he was eager to start up some new project again.  
  
Rikku was worried that Cid was becoming too much like Rin. Not that Rin was a bad character or anything, he just--  
  
"Gippal, fungehk rynt yc iciym, E caa," a familiar voice drawled.  
  
Gippal turned around to face the man, forcing a broad grin upon his face. He wasn't uneasy talking to Rin-- he'd just caught him off guard.  
  
"Nice to see you, Rin."  
  
"Aren't you supposed to be helping Rikku," he asked with a chuckle, eyeing the machina that Gippal had abandoned for the moment.  
  
"I think she can handle it on her own for now."  
  
"I see," Rin nodded. "Well, I'm just here to inform you that you two have a visitor."  
  
"Who is it?" Gippal asked, intrigue and curiosity overcoming the usual smoothness in his tone.  
  
"Ah, you'll see," Rin chuckled.  
  
Gippal forced a smile on his face again-- he didn't quite understand Rin's sense of humor, at times, but he had learned it was just best to smile and nod.  
  
"Your visitor's waiting over at the entry," Rin continued, nodding slowly.  
  
"All... right."  
  
The two stared at each other in an awkward silence before Rin spoke up again.  
  
"Well, you'd best get Rikku, no?"  
  
"Ah, right," Gippal nodded, heading off toward the machina again.  
  
"And Gippal," Rin called out once again.  
  
Gippal stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Rin, tilting his head to the side curiously.  
  
"Don't smile like that-- you'll start to scare people off."  
  
Gippal let out a hearty laugh and nodded before turning around and continuing his lazy tromp toward the machina.  
  
"Cid's girl!"  
  
"I thought we covered this already," Rikku's annoyed voice responded, "I have a name-- it's R-I-K-K-"  
  
"YOU have a visitor," he shouted back, amused with his pun.  
  
Rikku peered over the edge of the wall, gazing down at Gippal curiously.  
  
"Really? Who?"  
  
"You've got me," Gippal shrugged, "now, come on!"  
  
Rikku nodded, and as soon as she hopped onto the platform, Gippal lowered the machina. She leapt off of it excitedly as it reached the bottom, and Gippal quickly led the way toward the entry.  
  
They stopped abruptly at the entry, gazing around for their visitor. Gippal was the first to spot the visitor-- a smirk spreading across his face.  
  
"Muugea rana! Ed'c dra 'praetor' lusehk du byo ic y jeced," he chuckled. "Nice to see you, Baralai."  
  
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Hoped you liked Chapter 1. ^-^ I'm already started on Chapter 2, so it shouldn't be much more of a wait until it's posted. Now, R&R! Give me feedback! :D  
  
Translations:  
  
Mevd ed rekran pavuna E lusa tufh drana! - Lift it higher before I come down there!  
  
Gippal, fungehk rynt yc iciym, E caa. - Gippal, working hard as usual, I see.  
  
Muugea rana! Ed'c dra 'praetor' lusehk du byo ic y jeced. - Lookie here! It's the 'praetor' coming to pay us a visit. 


	2. Chapter 2 : Overcoat

Upon hearing Gippal's familiar voice, Baralai turned around to face Gippal, sporting a genuine, friendly grin.  
  
"Baralai," Rikku's voice called excitedly as she caught up with Gippal.  
  
Baralai nodded, "Nice to see you both."  
  
"So, what possessed you to come visit us today," Gippal asked wryly.  
  
Rikku elbowed him playfully in the side before chipping in her own comment.  
  
"Maybe he's come to help out!"  
  
"Came to check on the progress, actually," he replied in a good- natured tone. "Home's the talk of Spira, you know."  
  
"Ah, good," Gippal nodded firmly. "Wait, is it a good kind of gossip or a bad kind of gossip about it?"  
  
"Only intrigue and curiosity, from what I've heard," Baralai replied thoughtfully. "Though I do think you'll be getting new batches of volunteers around here-- the word's spreading like wildfire."  
  
"And you?" Rikku asked casually, leaning over toward Baralai slightly, a mischievous gleam in her eye.  
  
"Me?" Baralai asked with a small chuckle.  
  
"Yeah," she nodded, "aren't you going to help out?"  
  
Baralai looked hesitant, biting on his lower lip somewhat nervously.  
  
"Come on, Baralai," Gippal chimed in, "you could use the time away from those Yevon party animals."  
  
Baralai chuckled at the comment and shrugged his shoulders lightly. He peered out at the bustling desert before him, silently observing the work of all the people gathered among the sands-- whether it was diligent, hard work or not. He looked back to Rikku and Gippal after a few seconds and nodded to them.  
  
"All right," he grinned, "I suppose I can take a break from headquarters."  
  
"Good," Rikku replied happily. "No sense in staying stuffed up in Bevelle while you can play in the sand!"  
  
Baralai laughed aloud at Rikku's comment and started off toward the construction site. Rikku and Gippal exchanged wary looks before glancing back toward Baralai.  
  
"Um," Rikku spoke up hesitantly.  
  
"Yo! Baralai!"  
  
Baralai turned around toward Gippal and Rikku once again, an innocently confused expression taking over his features.  
  
"Your clothes," Rikku commented softly, once again.  
  
Baralai looked down, examining his clothes quickly, though still confused about what she had meant.  
  
"She means," Gippal chuckled, "that you're bound to faint from heat exhaustion in that getup."  
  
"Oh," Baralai nodded quickly, jogging back toward the two.  
  
He stopped before them and removed his heavy green overcoat with ease, depositing it upon the sand rather casually. He looked back up at the two and smirked, taking their rather shocked expressions to his advantage.  
  
"Better?"  
  
A continued silence caused Baralai to laugh aloud.  
  
"It's rude to stare," he chided playfully.  
  
"Never saw the praetor with bare arms before," Rikku commented with a chuckle.  
  
"Never thought the praetor would be that casual about stripping in public," Gippal nearly burst out laughing.  
  
Baralai shook his head and laughed, "It was just an overcoat."  
  
"Still, is that... allowed?" Rikku asked with a feigned curiosity, winking at Baralai quickly.  
  
"Now, now," Gippal interrupted, finally calming his laughter, "we can all discuss Baralai's secret stripping habits later."  
  
Rikku giggled, "Yeah, let's actually get some work done out there."  
  
Rikku almost took off running for Home, but she caught herself before she went stomping all over Baralai's overcoat on the way there.  
  
"What about this?" she asked, picking it up off of the ground. "Wouldn't want anyone to steal it."  
  
"Put it over there," Gippal replied, gesturing to a spare table by the admissions desk, where Rin had returned to his seat, and was tapping his fingers along the edge of the desk in an idle manner.  
  
"Druikr Rikku," Gippal added in wryly, "E ghuf oui't fyhd du gaab dryd vun ouincamv."  
  
Rikku's green eyes widened at the comment, and her mouth formed into a shocked 'o.' She stomped over toward Gippal and punched him rather forcefully on the shoulder.  
  
"Aah," Gippal scowled, rubbing his shoulder, eyeing Rikku warily. "Oui lyh'd nih vnus dra dnidr, pypa!"  
  
"Crid ib, oui," Rikku shouted at him as she made her way over toward the spare table and dropped the overcoat atop it.  
  
Gippal smirked and turned around, heading off toward the construction site of Home once again without another word. Rikku sighed and hurried after him, shaking her head as she made her way across the sand. Baralai waited until she reached him to start off after Gippal. As he ran alongside her, he gazed over at her curiously.  
  
"What were you two talking about?"  
  
Rikku looked over toward Baralai and simply smirked, though she felt a blush starting to burn in her cheeks.  
  
"Ah, nothing."  
  
___________________________________  
  
A bright sunset painted the desert sky, the clear blues melting away into shades of red and gold as the sun set in the horizon. The construction on Home was ceased for the day and many groups of people were heading back toward the entrance, to either depart to other reaches of Spira for the night on Cid's airship, or to head to the rather large travel agency that Rin had recently set up on Bikanel.  
  
"I never knew that you knew so much about operating machina," Rikku commented in a bit of awe, walking beside Baralai and Gippal, heading down toward the entrance area.  
  
"Oh, come on," Gippal chuckled, "he lives in Bevelle, where there's been so many discoveries of secret machina--"  
  
"Hey," Baralai laughed in protest, interrupting Gippal.  
  
Gippal just grinned and continued his speech, "And he was possessed by Shuyin and operated Vegnagun. Of course the man knows a lot about machina."  
  
"Oh, right," Rikku chuckled. "I forgot about that."  
  
"Thank you," Baralai chuckled lightheartedly. "At least you have-- but Gippal here doesn't seem to let that rest."  
  
Gippal grinned and patted Baralai on the shoulder with a friendly chuckle.  
  
"It just isn't in me to let things like that rest," he laughed. "You know that."  
  
"Mm," Baralai nodded.  
  
The three reached the entrance area and headed over toward the spare table, where Baralai's overcoat still remained.  
  
"Good," Rikku said proudly, "no one stole it."  
  
Rikku was the first to step up toward the table. She grabbed hold of the overcoat and turned back toward Gippal and Baralai. Her expression quickly formed into a glare as she spotted a wide smirk across Gippal's face.  
  
"Drehgehk ypuid dygehk dryd luyd vun ouincamv, ynah'd oui?"  
  
Rikku gasped angrily, "Oui!"  
  
Gippal simply chuckled proudly, glancing sideways at Baralai, and then looking back toward Rikku with an arrogant gleam in his eye.  
  
"See, it just isn't in me to let things like that rest," he recited mischievously.  
  
"Oh?" Rikku asked, narrowing her eyes yet again.  
  
Gippal nodded firmly.  
  
"Veha, drah! E's dygehk ed," Rikku shouted at him, slipping the overcoat over her arms casually.  
  
"Fryd?" Gippal asked in awe.  
  
"Hmph," Rikku scowled as fidgeted with the various parts of the coat, attempting to make it fit a bit better-- seeing as the broad collar just about covered her nose.  
  
"Did I... miss something?" Baralai asked innocently, looking from Rikku to Gippal curiously.  
  
"She just... has this need to take your coat," Gippal chuckled.  
  
Baralai was hesitant to reply.  
  
"Oh..."  
  
Rikku giggled quietly as she observed Baralai's rather confused expression. She walked back over toward Baralai with a broad grin on her face.  
  
"I'll give it back, don't worry," she whispered to him, "you don't mind if I take it for now, do you?"  
  
"N-no," Baralai chuckled quietly, "but may I ask why?"  
  
"Playing mind games with Gippal," she whispered in an amused tone, "that's all."  
  
"Ah," he nodded, "all right, then."  
  
"Great," she grinned, sending a wink toward Baralai once again.  
  
She stepped back and glared at Gippal before speaking up once again.  
  
"Now, then," she said in an abrupt manner, "if you'll excuse me-- I'll be going to bed, now."  
  
She nodded simply and turned around, starting off toward the travel agency slowly.  
  
"Good night, Rikku," Baralai called out.  
  
She raised her hand in the air as she continued on walking, turned her palm and did her best to send a backwards wave in Baralai's direction.  
  
"Cfaad tnaysc-- ypuid ouin mujan puo, uv luinca," Gippal called out seriously.  
  
Rikku's exasperated yell quickly rang in the air.  
  
"OUI!"  
  
Baralai glanced over at Gippal curiously. Gippal suppressed another round of laughter and simply shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"Could never figure out that girl," he commented innocently.  
  
--------------------  
  
Hope you enjoyed Chapter 2! ^-^ Ch. 3 is on it's way!  
  
A lot more Al Bhed in this chapter. Sorry about the constant references, but it's the only way Gippal can joke about Rikku supposedly liking Baralai without letting him understand it. XD  
  
Translations:  
  
Druikr Rikku, E ghuf oui't fyhd du gaab dryd vun ouincamv. - Though Rikku, I know you'd want to keep that for yourself.  
  
Oui lyh'd nih vnus dra dnidr, pypa! - You can't run from the truth, babe!  
  
Crid ib, oui. - Shut up, you.  
  
Drehgehk ypuid dygehk dryd luyd vun ouincamv, ynah'd oui? - Thinking about taking that coat for yourself, aren't you?  
  
Oui - You  
  
Veha, drah! E's dygehk ed. - Fine, then! I'm taking it.  
  
Fryd? - What?  
  
Cfaad tnaysc-- ypuid ouin mujan puo, uv luinca. - Sweet dreams-- about your lover boy, of course. 


	3. Chapter 3 : Enchanted Musings

With a rather lazy sigh, Rikku opened the door to her room in the travel agency. She smiled at the sight that met her eyes-- something of a mess. She shut the door quietly behind her and strolled forward into the room.  
  
The mess always made her feel at home. It had only been two days since she had been staying in the room, and it was already cluttered with her possessions, most of them being trinkets she found in the desert. Gippal had always teased her about being a packrat, but she usually did find a good use for the various things she'd find out in the desert-- Baralai's overcoat being no exception.  
  
Rikku dropped onto the bed in the corner of the room, heaving out a tired and dreamy sigh as she landed against the soft fabric. She curled up on her side, closing her eyes slowly, and wrapping her arms around each other. Her fingers ran along the green suede material of Baralai's overcoat.  
  
"Mm... how does he stand this thing on all the time? It probably gets pretty hot under here."  
  
Rikku opened her eyes once again and giggled at the sight they were met with. A few feet away from the bed was a full-length mirror, and in it, Rikku could see her reflection, looking rather ridiculous donning the praetor's larger overcoat. She heaved herself off of the bed and walked up to the mirror, laughing as the tails of the overcoat seemed to follow after her, dragging along the floor. She placed a hand on her hip and shifted her weight a bit.  
  
"Looking very stately in this outfit, Rikku," she chuckled to herself.  
  
She let out another, long sigh, and tilted her head up to the ceiling for a few seconds, before heading back over to the bed, and collapsing lazily upon it once again. She curled up on her side again and closed her eyes, although she faced the wall instead of the mirror. She was sure to open her eyes several times and burst out laughing at her reflection again if she kept facing the mirror.  
  
"Gippal, Gippal," Rikku chuckled softly, shaking her head a bit, "what were you thinking, trying to match me up with Baralai or something?"  
  
Rikku's eyes quickly snapped open as a thought rushed through her head briefly. She bit her lip and held back a small smile.  
  
"No," she said firmly, closing her eyes again. "He'd never go for me."  
  
With yet another weary sigh, Rikku put her raging thoughts about Baralai to rest for the night, and drifted off into sleep.  
  
___________________________________  
  
"Rikku," a soft, familiar male voice called out. "Rikku."  
  
Rikku's boots dug into the small sand dune idly as she looked up, searching around for the source of the call. She narrowed her swirled, green eyes in confusion, gazing this way and that rather desperately.  
  
"Y-yeah," she replied out, her voice slightly squeaking from some hidden nervousness.  
  
"Who are you waiting for?"  
  
"What? I'm not waiting for anyone."  
  
Rikku stomped her foot into the sand dune rather forcefully. For some reason, she found herself terribly agitated at this strange person. Why wouldn't he show himself? She rested her hands on her hips abruptly, showing a bit more of her agitation. Since this person could obviously see her, maybe they'd give in if they saw she was starting to get frustrated.  
  
"Hello, mister? Hello? You out there? W.. what were you talking about?"  
  
"Come to me."  
  
"Whoa! You are there!"  
  
"Come to me."  
  
"Urgh! Who are you? How can I do that if I can't even see you? Why would I go to random strangers, huh, mister?"  
  
Silence again.  
  
"Not again," Rikku whined in frustration.  
  
She skittered forward a few paces and she shielded her eyes from the setting desert sun in the sky. In the distance, she saw a figure's silhouette standing atop another, larger sand dune. Feeling compelled by this new discovery, Rikku raced forward to the figure, blindly trusting her judgment that she needed to see this person.  
  
A wide smile crossed her lips as she grew closer to the figure. She opened her mouth, took in a big gasp of air, and shouted out to it.  
  
"Heeey! Hey!"  
  
Hearing her call, the figure turned around to face Rikku. She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw someone very familiar standing before her, with a similar, broad grin on his face.  
  
"B-Baralai?"  
  
"Come to me."  
  
___________________________________  
  
Rikku shot up from her bed, popping her eyes open in surprise, and gazing around the room rather frantically. It looked like it was almost light out again. She brought her hands to her shoulders and felt the praetor's overcoat still donning her body. She let out a quick sigh of relief.  
  
"Some weird dream that was."  
  
Rikku sighed once again and heaved herself up from her bed, stretching out her tight limbs in a slow motion, a squeaky yawn accenting her movements. She lazily strolled over toward the window and leaned her elbows against the small windowsill hanging below the clear glass. Her eyes met the pleasing sight of a sunrise over Bikanel. Sure, the amazing sunsets in Bikanel were something that every Spiran should get to see one day, but the sunrises had their own sense of enchantment, too. A small smile crept over her lips.  
  
"I wonder... if Baralai's awake now, watching this, too," she mused softly.  
  
Rikku paused for a moment, then shook her head quickly.  
  
"No. Bad Rikku."  
  
She bit her bottom lip in a valiant attempt to stop anymore utterances like that one. A tiny whine escaped from her throat, and Rikku hung her head with a sigh of defeat.  
  
She couldn't stop the thoughts about him.  
  
"Gippal will not be hearing about this dream."  
  
--------------------  
  
After a long wait, Chapter 3 is here! XD I should be working on Chapter 4 very soon. Hope you all enjoyed this one.  
  
No Al Bhed in this chapter to translate. Yay. ^-^ But from now on, [thanks to YufVin-Valentine's suggestion :D] I'll be translating the Al Bhed on the same line, instead of down in the end notes here. That should make it easier. 


	4. Chapter 4 : Chances

The new day was as swelteringly hot as the one before, though it seemed a bit more extreme to Rikku, who strolled out into the morning heat of the Bikanel Desert still clad in Baralai's overcoat.

Though she was feeling a bit dizzy in the thing, she was determined to keep it on long enough until she saw Gippal and Baralai once again. She forced a content grin on her face as she trailed forward at a slow pace, holding her head high and her eyes wide with determination.

The entrance of the construction site came into view as Rikku continued on forward, and standing by it, she could faintly see Gippal and Baralai waiting, peering around through the desert. Gippal seemed to have spotted her first as he suddenly extended a hand forward, pointing his finger toward Rikku, shouting something to Baralai. Baralai chuckled a bit and waved a greeting to the approaching girl. Rikku _considered_ waving back, but the overcoat seemed to restrict any kind of sudden, quick movement, and she decided against it.

"Cid's girl," Gippal shouted out loudly as Rikku finally came closer.

"Not again," Rikku sighed, hiding a small grin from forming over her face.

"Fyc dra hekrd ihpaynypma vun oui?" ("Was the night unbearable for you?")

Rikku stared at Gippal, lifting an eyebrow suspiciously at his strange question.

"_Fryd_?" ("_What_?")

"Fedruid ouin muja, uv luinca!" ("Without your love, of course!")

"Gippal," Rikku gasped out, narrowing her eyebrows. "Vencd, ed fyc JANO paynypma, palyica... E ryja rec luyd-- E cdemm vamd lmuca du res, ajah frah fa fana cabynydat!" ("First, it was VERY bearable, because... I have his coat-- I still felt close to him, even when we were separated!")

Gippal let out an amused laugh, clapping his hands together. She _knew _Gippal would enjoy that one.

"And _second_," she continued on, coughing a bit as she switched back out of Al Bhed, "don't you think it's rude that we just talk in Al Bhed all of a sudden and leave poor Baralai confused?"

"Er--"

"Yeah, thought so," Rikku smirked, interrupting Gippal.

"It's okay with me," Baralai added in, stepping a bit closer to Rikku, "I really don't mind it."

"No, it isn't," Rikku insisted, shaking her head. "Which is why Gippal should apologize!"

"_Me_," Gippal repeated incredulously, glancing from Rikku to Baralai quickly.

"Of course, _sayhea_," Rikku grinned, "apologize!" ("Of course, _meanie_," Rikku grinned, "apologize!")

"Uh--"

The three were suddenly interrupted by a loud, booming roar of airship engines sounded from overhead. The three gazed up at the sky, where Cid's airship was pulling up toward the entrance, narrowly avoiding hitting a few people scattered here and there as it came to a stop. The doors on the side of the airship opened up, and Cid led a rather large group of people out toward the entrance.

"Nice going, Pops," Rikku teased loudly, "might as well run over a few people on your way in!"

"Ingrate of a kid," Cid snapped back.

"Meanie!"

Cid shook his head gruffly and turned back around to wave the group that had just came off of the airship over.

"Come on, everyone! We've got a lot of work to do today and not a lot of time to do it!"

"Oh great," Gippal mumbled quietly.

Baralai let out a small laugh at Gippal's comment. He turned around and grinned back at the praetor for a moment before leading the way over toward Cid.

"Now, everyone listen up," Cid began quickly, "we've been getting a little help from Shinra here--"

Cid paused for a moment, pointing toward Shinra as he came forward from the group. Rikku waved rather ecstatically to Shinra-- fighting the urge to put her hands down as the rather restricting overcoat weighed down on her.

"And he found a problem with the new security system we're putting into Home. It turns out, folks, that we've got a little more digging to do."

A rise in quiet, curious talk surrounded them all of a sudden.

"We thought we had cleared the area out pretty well before we started building, but some stuff has been surfacing, I guess, and it's gettin' to be a problem. Shinra thinks that what you're goin' to be looking for is either some old scrap metal still hidden around-- or spheres."

The curious talk suddenly grew a little louder.

"Spheres," Rikku repeated a whisper, looking over to Gippal and Baralai, who looked rather confused, as well.

"You got it right, folks-- spheres. So, the rules here are-- if you happen to find some old scrap metal, you can make a big pile of it yourself and call one of our hover workers over to take it back to the entrance. If you find some spheres--"

Cid paused for effect, looking around at the excited faces surrounding him.

"They're yours for the takin'!"

Loud cheers and applause exploded around the gathering, and the talk amongst everyone had grown even louder.

"Just, uh, don't do anything bad with them, all right?"

The crowd laughed appreciatively at the comment.

"So, I need you all to divide into pairs and head out into different sections of the desert. So, come on over to me in your pairs and I'll assign you a place! Hurry up! Get to it!"

Rikku grinned widely at the news, though she wasn't all that excited about getting spheres. But this was her _chance_!

Rikku gazed over at Baralai and grabbed his hand quickly. He looked down at Rikku with a sort of amused confusion, tipping his head to the side.

Rikku believed for a moment that she could physically _melt_-- right there into a puddle on the ground. Baralai was entirely too adorable to handle.

"Come with me," she grinned cheerfully.

"All right, then," Baralai nodded, returning the grin.

"Drana'c y kenm," Gippal's voice suddenly sounded, as he nudged Rikku by the shoulder. ("There's a girl.")

Rikku simply gave Gippal a pleased smile. She wouldn't let him get to her.

"So, Gippal," a voice suddenly called.

The three gazed around and quickly spotted Rin heading toward them.

"Do you have a partner yet?"

"Er... no, Rin. I don't."

Rikku and Baralai both stifled their laughter and escaped the scene before Gippal heard them. Still holding onto Baralai's hand, Rikku led the way forward toward Cid.

"Reporting for duty, Pops," Rikku greeted cheerfully.

"Rikku, what are you doing in that thing?"

"Oh, right," Rikku grinned sheepishly, gazing back down at the overcoat.

"It's not even yours, is it," Cid continued on, glancing at her suspiciously.

"No," Rikku smirked, "it's Baralai's!"

"Baralai's," Cid suddenly trailed off as he looked over at Baralai curiously. "Er-- the praetor's here to dig, too?"

Baralai nodded quickly, "Of course."

Cid shrugged his shoulders, then gazed back to Rikku.

"Well, you two can head over to that hover," he paused, gesturing to the hover to his left, where a small group of people was amassing, "and head out to the southern expanse. Happy diggin' and everything-- so, get going already!"

Rikku chuckled quietly as she slipped Baralai's coat off of her shoulders and handed it over to Cid.

"Here, take care of that, Pops!"

"Right," Cid replied rather half-heartedly.

Rikku laughed a bit more and took Baralai's hand once again as she headed over toward the hover.

"Think we'll find any spheres," Baralai mused aloud as they stopped in front of the hover.

"Maybe," Rikku grinned. "I sort of miss my sphere hunting days-- so this'll be interesting!"

Baralai gave a chuckle of approval to Rikku, nodding his head in agreement.

Suddenly, the hover gave a loud start, the engine roaring above the crowd. The driver hopped out of the front, giving the group a quick once over and an approving nod.

"I'm Itaal, and I'll be driving the hover to the southern expanse today," she greeted loudly. "So, now that our little introduction's over-- get on in!"

The crowd suddenly pushed its way forward, people going this way and that, trying to stick close to their partners. As Baralai and Rikku managed their way in, there was little room left, with a few people still waiting to get in behind them.

"Now, it's not the time to be shy," Itaal shouted out, "squish in! We've got to fit everyone in!"

Everyone tried to condense together a bit more, but the over was still rather lacking in space. Rikku shrugged to Baralai, and he gazed down toward the seats. Baralai quickly slid into the next open space, looking up at Rikku rather expectantly with a shrug of his shoulders.

How _perfect_!

As the people behind her seemed to be getting a little impatient, Rikku stepped forward a few paces and dropped herself down onto Baralai's lap lightly, chuckling a bit as she gazed back at him. Baralai grinned back and gave Rikku a quick wink.

Rikku gazed back in front of her as she felt a blush burning madly in her cheeks, and the thought of melting into another muddle crossed her mind. He was getting to be _too _irresistible.

Before she made herself blush even more, the hover suddenly jerked forward and sped off through the sands.

She could only be thankful that Baralai couldn't see her face right then.

Oh, but if only he _knew_!

--------------------

After keeping you all waiting for forever and a day, I finally updated! The random inspiration struck this morning while I was wasting time. XD

Hope you enjoyed! And _hopefully_ I'll get Chapter 5 up soon! XD


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